The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Compromise of 1850
Just a few facts...
What is the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?
- Initially proposed by Senator James Mason of Va.
- The new proposed Fugitive Slave Bill would be an amendment to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.
- The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 was not being enforced so they created the Fugitive Slave Bill of 1850 with stricter penalty's.
- Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, it was a part of the Compromise of 1850.
- Signed by President Millard Fillmore.
- Only 4 voted against it: John P. Hale, Charles Sumner, Salmon Chase, and Benjamin Wade.
- Was the only controversial bill on the Compromise.
- Federal Law that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves.
- It required citizens to assist in the recovery of slaves
- Denied fugitive rights to a grand jury.
- Any person who would aid runaways would be fined 500 dollars, and spend 6 months in jail.
- Officers were entitled to a fee and this encouraged them to kidnap free slaves and sell them to slave owners.
Fugitive Act Cont.
Fugitive Slave Act Cont.
- The fugitive slave act resulted in many free blacks being illegally captured and sold into slavery.
- Solomon Northup was a free black who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C in 1841.
- He would spend the next 12 years as a slave before winning back his freedom in 1853.
- Any U.S Marshall who did not return or arrest a runaway slave would pay a penalty of $1000.
- Even if a slave was able to escape from thier plantation they could still be caught and returned to any slave owner.
Anthony Burns
Uncle Toms Cabin
Fugitive Slave Act in the North
- Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Toms Cabin because of the passage Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
- Abraham Lincoln greeted Harriet with "So your the little women who wrote that book who started this great war."
- Northern states opposed the Fugitive Slave Act it became virtually unenforceable in certain states.
- Vermont and Wisconsin tried to nullify the law.
- Northerns would protect free black slaves, and fugitive slaves by enacting legislation to protect them.
- Riots and revolts broke out due to resistance.
- Was a slave in Stafford County Va.
- Escaped from slavery, and reached Boston, Massachusetts.
- He was caught in 1853, and was tried under the Boston Law.
- On June 2, 1854 he was escorted back to his masters in Virginia.